Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
The exception being shooting deer in Scotland (like last weekend) and not being allowed to take it home to NI of course!
Dumping of shot pheasants
- Thread starter richard griffith
- Start date
you are wrong mate , not one of the guys or outfits I have stallked with , won't take the beast home or to the dealer
99% of us eat the beast , unless your a contract / pro stalker , then you have too many to eat personally and it goes to the dealer
So someone eats it
Kjf
Last edited:
And they are a minority , or overseas clients who can't
jim_allen_uk
Well-Known Member
I know the majority of deer end up in the food chain, same as game birds. I’m merely pointing out that the people who say pheasant shooters are disrespectful for not taking a brace home must also think anyone who pays to shoot a deer and doesn’t take it home is disrespectful as well then.
I nearly always take at least a brace home and more often than not take a dozen home. However for practical reasons If I can’t always take a brace home, does this mean I shouldn’t participate in the day even if I know the birds will be eaten by others?
Not at all mate ,
But the post is about , dumping pheasants , wasting them , it's a tricky topic
Atb
Kjf
There's a lot of humbug on this thread. Everybody here and in the world, without exception, enjoys an activity which results in dead animals, food waste and enviroental harm, some of which goes to waste.
There's nothing particularly different about people shooting pheasants and not eating them. A pheasant thrown away irresponsibly or otherwise has generated a good £60 one way or another. Other than caviar, it's hard to think of a kilo of animal generating that much value. That compares favourably to people who farm sheep, cattle, chickens, stalk deer and nearly all other activities.
There's nothing particularly different about people shooting pheasants and not eating them. A pheasant thrown away irresponsibly or otherwise has generated a good £60 one way or another. Other than caviar, it's hard to think of a kilo of animal generating that much value. That compares favourably to people who farm sheep, cattle, chickens, stalk deer and nearly all other activities.
I cheerfully admit to being the guy who always steps up last to tip the keeper and take his brace. Or, more accurately, hoovers up whatever the other guns have left. On a syndicate day where we pay £80 a day and get a brace (if we're lucky), I will never turn down my £40 per head birds. And if I am splashing out on a 150 bird day and am offered a brace, I will cerainly not refuse my birds that are costing me probably 10 times as much!
Living in a city, I have a list of non-shooting friends and acquaintances who can't wait for me to get out on pheasant or partridge. After I take what I want, and that is. normally dependent on how much room there is in the freezer, I give the rest away. If they want it in the feather, that's what they get. If they want it skinned, I do that for them if they are not comfortable to do it themselves. It is similar to how I distribute my venison, although that is all butchered and in bags.
My avatar shows a 750kg buff. I hold my hand up to the fact that I had some very nice fillet from that beast but couldn't manage the whole carcass! But it did go to help feed a local village. So I can see that there are situations where you personally cannot eat what you shoot.
But let's put this in perspective. As a nation of consumers where the supermarkets have done a grand job of separating townies from nature, we chuck away mountains of food that we buy in shops because we don't use it by the best before date.
That is sheer laziness and lack of planning and, for me, is more reprehensible than not consuming all the game we shoot.
Living in a city, I have a list of non-shooting friends and acquaintances who can't wait for me to get out on pheasant or partridge. After I take what I want, and that is. normally dependent on how much room there is in the freezer, I give the rest away. If they want it in the feather, that's what they get. If they want it skinned, I do that for them if they are not comfortable to do it themselves. It is similar to how I distribute my venison, although that is all butchered and in bags.
My avatar shows a 750kg buff. I hold my hand up to the fact that I had some very nice fillet from that beast but couldn't manage the whole carcass! But it did go to help feed a local village. So I can see that there are situations where you personally cannot eat what you shoot.
But let's put this in perspective. As a nation of consumers where the supermarkets have done a grand job of separating townies from nature, we chuck away mountains of food that we buy in shops because we don't use it by the best before date.
That is sheer laziness and lack of planning and, for me, is more reprehensible than not consuming all the game we shoot.
Last edited:
glasshalffull
Well-Known Member
Why couldn't you bring it into NI? I have many a timeThe exception being shooting deer in Scotland (like last weekend) and not being allowed to take it home to NI of course!
.
It's true. The food from supermarkets that's thrown away, either by the shops themselves or customers who have had it lurking in their fridges past the magic use by date is vastly more than any pheasants or other game that is not used. Go into many restaurants and you'll see half plates full left, walk into many town centres on a Sunday morning and see discarded part-eaten kebabs, pizzas and whatever. So one has to put things into perspective. We should be better with our food. But alas, we aren't and it's not just pheasant shooters that's to blame.
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
So has my friend - even roe in a suitcase as hold luggage. I have been told that it contravenes meat import restrictions and that if you are caught it can impact on your fac. As late as last Sunday I had the most thorough check carried out on me at Cairnryan - glad I was meat-free!Why couldn't you bring it into NI? I have many a time
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
An extract from DAERA’s website though NI’s position in this regard is unclear still i.e. GB is no longer an EU country but import controls are very confusing to say the least!Why couldn't you bring it into NI? I have many a time
“From non-EU countries
The following items are banned:all meat and meat products
- all milk and dairy products
- some plants and plant products considered high risk
- loose soil”.
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
Try simmering them in water with a few root vegetables and chicken stock, drop a small steel axe head in the pot as well, when the axe head is nice and soft give it another ten minutes and they should be edible!
StephenToast
Well-Known Member
Thanks for writing that. Sounds like an amazing experience.
Tend to agree with this analysis but as mentioned elsewhere, its not much different to old fashioned released live pigeon shooting.
It also brings into question any demands to move away from lead shot - as the food is incidental - and the exercise in futility that under current direction is the British Game Alliance.
Thats not true. Many pay to learn. Depending on the stage of life might not be able to process a whole carcass, or even three when out on deer management. The carcasses are used all for food, human and canine.
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Straw isn’t a live sentient creature that feels pain exactly the same way that we do, at its simplest this is an animal welfare issue and I’d hate to be the one trying to defend raising and nurturing large numbers of tame poultry purely for the sport of shooting them, and that’s exactly where game shooting is headed once the carcasses have no market or value.
I take your point on venison prices, no doubt low sales have a lot to do with current prices, but over here the number of deer has doubled over the last 15 years or so while the market for venison has been fairly flat.
I’d like to see venison move from the luxury food sector into the cheap as chips mince and burger market, thats where theres room for growth, make it just another main stream green meat alternative.
baguio
Well-Known Member
Lets not forget that chickens are bred purely to slaughter at 6 weeks old having never seen the light of day. Those criticising game shooting but who then buy chicken from the super market need to look very hard at themselves first IMO.
